Apparatus for maintaining the selvedge of a web of travelling fabric or the like uncurled



June 19, 1956 K. s. LAURIE 2,750,650

APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE SELVEDGE OF A WEB OF TRAVELLING FABRIC ORTHE LIKE UNCURLED Filed March 51, 1953 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor.-

6' Attorneys June 19, 1956 K. s. LAURIE 2,750,650

APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE SELVEDGE OF A WEB OF TRAVELLING FABRIC ORTHE LIKE UNCURLED Filed March :51, 1955 s Sheets-Sheet 2 June 19, 1956K. s. LAURIE 2,750,650

APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE] SELVEDGE OF A WEB OF TRAVELLING FABRIC ORTHE LIKE UNCURLED Filed March 51, 1953 s Sheets-Sheet 3 B A jm M M JV/sAtto rneys United States Patent APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE SELVEDGEOF A WEB OF TRAVELLING FABRIC OR THE LIKE UNCURLED Kenneth S. Laurie,Thornliebank, Glasgow, Scotland, as-

signor to John Dalglish & Sons Limited, Thornliebank, Glasgow, GreatBritain, a British company Application March 31, 1953, Serial No.345,860

Claims priority, application Great Britain April 2, 1952 21 Claims. (Cl.26-57) This invention relates to apparatus for maintaining the selvedgeof a web of travelling fabric or the like uncurled, especially prior toentry to a stenter, mangle or other textile finishing machine.

Certain types of fabric, particularly those of knitted construction,have a marked tendency during the movement in textile finishingprocesses, to roll inwards or curl on the selvedges. The curl may haveten or more turns and may contain three or four inches of fabric on eachselvedge, or more in severe cases. This curl must be removed entirelybefore introducing the fabric to such machines, as for example,stenters, mangles and other finishing machines. As the curl is liable tospring back on release, the curl removal must take place immediatelybefore the entry to the machine, so that the uncurled selvedge isgripped at once by the feeding device of the machine.

Scroll rollers at the entry to the machine have been found to remove agreat part of the curl, but they cannot be relied on to take out thelast few turns, so that a waste of fabric of half inch to one inch ormore is liable to occur.

It hasalso been proposed to utilise transversely disposed travellingbelts above and below the selvedge, but it has been difficult to adjustthis apparatus so as to eliminate the curl without tending to grip thewhole fabric, gathering it into the belts, and tending to displace it asa whole transversely of its direction of travel.

Prior to the incorporation of automatic guiding devices in textilefinishing machines, the operation of uncurling devices, such as those ofthe belt or scroll types, was satisfactory as there was available in thematerial being introduced to the machine a certain amount of widthwisetension which resisted the dragging action of the uncurling devices.However, with the use of certain automatic guiding devices there is acomplete absence of widthwise tension in the material and the uncurlingdevices in use heretofore have tended to gather the material sideways ina large bunch at each edge, thus destroying the uncurler action andcompletely upsetting the action of the automatic guiding device. This ismore especially the case when the material is a knitted fabric which isliable to curl at the selvedges.

The term automatic guiding device used herein and in the claims is to beconstrued as embracing guiding devices for automatically guidingtravelling bands or webs (hereinafter referred to simply as webs) inwhich each guiding member is adapted to engage the web along a narrowarea adjacent its selvedge alone and to rotate on passage of the web,and movement of each selvedge of the web in a direction other thanlongitudinal progression is controlled by swinging movement of theguiding member according to the displacement of the selvedge from apredetermined path by means detecting such displacement, for example alight beam directed upon the field of a photo-electric cell and adaptedto be intercepted by the selvedgeon displacement thereof, or a finger orspade engaging with the selvedge, air jets adapted to be masked by theselvedge, or similar means.

Patented June 19, 1956 According to the present invention we provideapparatus for maintaining the selvedge of a web of travelling fabric orthe like uncurled, especially prior to entry to a stenter, mangle orother finishing machine, comprising substantially rigid support meansadapted to act on one face of the web in the region of the selvedge toresist transverse outward displacement of the web, and uncurling meansadapted to act on the other face of the web in the region of theselvedge so as to tend to keep the selvedge open and uncurled. Theuncurling means may comprise a travelling uncurling medium adaptedcontinuously to move over the face of the web in the region of theselvedge and having an outward and a forward component of motion.

In textile finishing machines equipped with automatic guiding devices ashereinbefore defined there is a tendency for the selvedges of the web torecurl during passage thereof through the detection means and on to theguiding members of the guiding devices, and as a result the selvedgesare often curled when engaged by the clips or pins of the stenterchains, or, as is more usual, by the pins of overfeed wheels in advanceof the stenter chains.

It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate thisdisadvantage.

Thus the present invention is also apparatus for feeding a web oftravelling material accurately and with smooth selvedges to a stenter orother textile finishing machine comprising the combination in advance ofthe entry end of the machine on each side thereof, of an automaticguiding device as hereinbefore defined, a main uncurler unit positionedto smooth out the curl at the selvedge prior to entry of the selvedge tosaid device, and an' auxiliary uncurler unit positioned to smooth outthe curl at the selvedge as the selvedge leaves said device immediatelyprior to engagement of the selvedge by the pins or clips of the stenter,or the pins of the overfeed wheel where this is provided.

The main uncurler unit is located immediately in advance of theautomatic guiding device and may comprise substantially rigid supportmeans adapted to act on one face of the web in the region of theselvedge to resist transverse outward displacement of the web, anduncurling means adapted to act on the other face of the web in theregion of the selvedge so as to tend to keep the selvedge open anduncurled. The uncurling means may comprise a travelling medium adaptedcontinuously 'to' move over the face of the web in the region of the-selvedge and having an outward and a forward component of motion.

The inner edge of the support means, that is the edge thereof nearestthe central longitudinal axis of the web, is preferably abrupt toincrease by friction the natural tendency of the support means to resistoutward trans verse displacement of the web by the action of thetravelling uncuring mediums.

Preferably the support means is somewhat curved td-" movement of .theguiding member thereat in accordance with displacement of one or both ofthe selvedges of the web from a predetermined path.

The auxiliary uncurlerunit is located as close as-possible to the pointwhere the selvedge of web leaves the automatic guiding device andpreferably comprises a .ro-.:

tating brush wheel whereof the bristles brush across the selvedge in anoutwards direction over the surface of the.

web toward which the selvedge tends to curl. The brush may be ofumbrella or frusto conical shape and is mounted for rotation about itsaxis which latter is so disposed that the bristles of the brush contactthe web only when moving outwardly across the selvedge.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with referenceto the acompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of apparatus for maintaining the selvedge ofa web of travelling fabric uncurled prior to entry of the fabric to astenter or other cloth finishing machine;

Fig. 2 is a plan view showing part of the apparatus;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, to a larger scale, of another part of theapparatus;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line IV--IV of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the part of the apparatus shown in Fig. 3.

Referring now to the drawings, the apparatus comprises a main uncurlerunit, an electronic guiding device, and an auxiliary uncurler unit. Theapparatus shown is duplicated, being provided at both sides in advanceof the finishing machine accurately to feed the web of travelling fabricto the machine with both selvedges uncurled.

The path of the web is indicated by a chain-dotted line in Fig. 1wherein the web is shown passing around a scroll roller 11 and arubber-covered top entry roller 12 of an entry end frame to the mainuncurler unit which is located as close as possible to the guidingmember of the guiding device with the object of feeding the web to themember with the selvedge uncurled.

The main uncurler unit comprises a rigid support member 13 of wood,metal or other suitable material which presents an arched surface to theweb to constrain the selvedge to follow an arcuate path thereover and toincrease the cross-ways tension of the web. The support member has anabrupt inner edge 14 and as the web is fed to the machine withouttension in the weft direction it will be clear that as the selvedges ofthe web pass over the support members on each side of the machine theweb hangs between the two inner edges 14 and this in conjunction withthe abruptness of said edges prevents the web being gathered in at theselvedges by the action of the uncurling means acting on the selvedgesin opposition to the support members 13.

The uncurling means comprises a travelling belt 15 mounted about a pairof rollers 16 one of which is driven by belts 17 and 18 and pulleys 19,20, 21, 22 and 23 from the drive to the overfeed wheel 24, hereinafterreferred to. The belt 15 is positioned to act on the selvedge after thelatter has passed over the crest of the arched support member 13 and ismoving in a downward direction. The lower run of the belt moves in anoutward direction and has an outward and a forward component of motion.The direction of travel of the belt is preferably at an angle of orthereabouts forwardly of the transverse direction and the belt maytravel at a speed approximating to, say, twice that of the speed oftravel of the web.

The belt must be of suflicient length in its running direction to coverall possible variations of the web selvedge position and the speed ofthe belt and the angle of the belt relative to the direction of the webshould be such that there is no longitudinal speed component relative tothe web. The breadth of each belt must be sufficient to complete thetaking out of the curl at the selvedge of the web.

The angle at which the belt is set is adjustable and thus the drive tothe belt is such as to permit this adjustment and to maintain a constantratio betwen the speeds of the belt and the web.

The selvedge of the web 10 on leaving the main uncurler unit in anuncurled condition engages the pins of the guide wheel or card clothingwheel 25 of the electronic guiding device. The pins are not shown butthe path traced by the extremities thereof is indicated by thechain-dotted line 26. The wheel 25 is freely rotatable and is caused torotate solely by the passage of the web therearound. The wheel 25 ismounted to pivot about a vertical axis which is intersected by the planeof the pins on the wheel to move the wheel periphery into the line intowhich it is desired to guide the web.

The vertical axis is co-incident with or adjacent the point at which theweb becomes disengaged from the guide wheel and the latter is deflectedabout the vertical axis to restore the web to its predetermined line ofrun whenever it departs therefrom. The selvedge of the web passesthrough a detector head 27 between the main uncurler and the wheel 25and any deviation of the web from its predetermined path is detected inthe head, for example by a finger or spade maintained in contact withthe selvedge by spring means. Deflection of the finger closes a switchwhich completes the circuit of a solenoid coil disposed about anarmature controlling the operation of a pneumatic arrangement operatingto deflect the guide wheel 25 about the vertical axis. The operation andcontrol of the deflection of the guide wheel may be by mechanical,pneumatic, fluid or electrical means, or operation may be by one andcontrol by another, but, as the precise control and operation of thedeflection of the guide wheel forms no part of this invention, nofurther reference thereto is deemed necessary.

On leaving the guide wheel 25 the selvedge is engaged by the pins of theoverfeed wheel 24. The pins of the overfeed wheel are not shown but thepath traced by the extremities thereof is indicated by the chaindottedline 28. The paths of the pins of the guide wheel and overfeed wheelintersect during rotation of the wheels in the directions indicated bythe arrows (Fig. l). The pins of the overfeed wheel move radiallyoutwards and inwards during such rotation, the arrangement being suchthat they are fully out when receiving the web from the pins of theguide wheel and are withdrawn as they pass the web on the pins or otherweb-engaging means of the finishing machine in the region indicated at29.

The auxiliary uncurler unit is located as close as possible to the pointwhere the selvedge of the web 10 leaves the rotating wheel 25 of theguiding device to be engaged by the pins of the overfeed wheel 24.

The auxiliary uncurler unit comprises a small brush wheel 30 of umbrellaor frusto-conical formation so mounted for rotation about its axis thatduring its rotary movement the bristles 31 thereof are in contact withthe web in the region of the selvedge only during their movement in theoutwards direction, that is over and beyond the web, the opposition totransverse outward movement of the web being provided in this instanceby the pins of the rotating wheel 25 of the guiding device. Thedirection of rotation of the brush wheel 30 on the left hand side of themachine considered from the entry end is clockwise and the direction ofrotation of the brush wheel at the right hand side of the machine iscounterclockwise.

The moving uncurling means of the main uncurler unit and the brush wheelcomprising the auxiliary uncurler unit both act on the face of the webtowards which the selvedge tends to curl.

The brush wheel 30 is driven from the rotating wheel 25 of the guidingdevice by gearing mounted alongside the wheel 25. This gearing comprisestwo small shafts 32 and 33, the former of which is driven by a bevelpinion 34 from a bevel ring 35 mounted on the wheel 25 and drives thelatter shaft through the medium of two spur wheels 36 and 37, the lattershaft 33 carrying the brush at its end remote from the spur gears. Thisconstruction provides for the displacement of the second orbrush-carrying shaft 33 from a position radial of the wheel 24.

The shaft carrying the brush wheel may alternatively be driven directlyfrom the bevel ring and pinion and include an adjustable universal jointto allow the brush to be canted to the necessary position.

It is essential that friction be kept down to a minimum in each of thesetwo drives as the wheel of the guiding device is caused to rotate solelyby the passage of the web therearound The belt 15 of the main uncurlerunit may be replaced by a revolving brush, a travelling brush band orother suitable uncurling medium, or any other known method such asblowing the curl out by compressed air may be used.

A bar member may be positioned immediately below the support member ofthe main uncurler unit and spaced slightly inwardly therefrom, the webbeing guided transversely below this bar member and over the supportmember. The bar member preferably has a curved or rounded edge where itcontacts the web.

With the apparatus described and shown in the drawing the web is fed inwith the curls at the selvedges uppermost. The scroll roller 11 removespart of each curl after the web has passed through the entry frame priorto the selvedges thereof entering between the support members anduncurling mediums of the main uncurlers.

It is sometimes desirable, however, to feed the web into the stenter orother finishing machine with the curls at the selvedge lowermost and inthis event the relative positions of the support member and uncurlingmedium of the uncurling apparatus are interchanged, so that the upperface of the Web moves over the support member and the uncurling mediumacts on the lower face of the web. A scroll roller is preferablyprovided also in this instance and the web passes thereover prior toentering between the support member and the uncurling medium.

The support member 13 may have both its upper and lower surfaces archedin the outward direction and thus be adapted for use with webs which areto be fed with the selvedge curl both uppermost and lowermost, withoutany adjustment except perhaps in the vertical direction.

The uncurling medium may be provided in duplicate for each supportmember, one below and one above the latter.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for maintaining the selvedge of a web of travelling fabricuncurled, especially prior to entry to a finishing machine such as astenter, comprising in advance of the entry end of the machine on eachside thereof substantially rigid support means presenting a curvedsurface towards the path of movement of the web and adapted to act onone face of the web in the region of each selvedge to constrain theselvedge to follow an arcuate path thereover and to resist transverseoutward displacement of the web, and uncurling means adapted to act onthe other face of the web in the region of each selvedge so as to tendto keep the selvedge open and uncurled.

2. Apparatus for feeding a web of travelling material accurately andwith smooth selvedges to a textile finishing machine such as a stentercomprising the combination in advance of the entry end of the machine oneach side thereof, of an automatic guiding device, a main uncurler unitpositioned immediately in advance of said guiding device to smooth outthe curl at the selvedge prior to entry of the selvedge to said device,and an auxiliary uncurler unit positioned to smooth out the curl at theselvedge as the selvedge leaves said device immediately prior toengagement of the selvedge by the selvedge engaging means of themacihne.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 2, in which the main uncurler unitcomprises substantially rigid support means adapted to act on one faceof the web in the region of the selvedge to resist transverse outwarddisplacement of the web, and uncurling means adapted to act on the otherface of the web in the region of the selvedge so as to tend to keep theselvedge open and uncurled.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the inner edge of eachsupport means, that is the edge thereof nearest the central longitudinalaxis of the web, is abrupt to increase by friction the natural tendencyof the support means to resist outward transverse displacement of theweb by the action of the travelling uncurling medium.

5. Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the support means issomewhat curved toward the path of movement of the web to constrain theselvedge to follow an arcuate path thereover.

6. Apparatus as claimed in, claim 5, in which the leading end of thesupport means terminates as close as possible to the automatic guidingdevice, without interfering with movement of the guiding member thereatin accordance with displacement of the selvedges of the web from apredetermined path.

7. Apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the auxiliary uncurler unitis located as close as possible to the point where the selvedge of webleaves the automatic gliding device, and comprises a rotating brushwheel whereof the bristles brush across the selvedge in an outwarddirection over the surface of the web toward which the selvedge tends tocurl.

8. Apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which the brush is offrusto-conical shape and its axis is so disposed that the bristlescontact the web only when moving outwardly across the selvedge.

9. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the uncurling means is anendless travelling belt whereof the lower run moves in an outwarddirection over the face of the web in the region of the selvedge and hasan outward and a forward component of motion.

10. Apparatus as claimed in claim 9, in which means is provided to drivethe belt at a speed so coordinated to the angle of the belt relative tothe direction of movement of the web that there is no longitudinal speedcomponent of the belt relative to the web.

11. Apparatus as claimed in claim 10, in which the direction of travelof each belt is at an angle in the region of 30 forwardly of thetransverse direction and the belt travels at a speed equal to twice thatof the speed of travel of the web.

12. Apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in which the belt is of sufficientlength in its running direction to cover all possible variations of theweb selvedge position.

13. Apparatus as claimed in claim 12, in which the angle at which thebelt is set is adjustable and the drive to the belt is such as to permitthis adjustment and to maintain a constant ratio between the speeds ofthe belt and the web.

14. Apparatus as claimed in claim 13, including an overfeed wheel, meansdriving the overfeed wheel, and belt and pulley means transmitting drivefrom said driving means to the endless travelling belt.

15. Apparatus as claimed in claim 14, in which a bar member ispositioned immediately below the support means and spaced slightlyinwardly therefrom, the web extending in the transverse direction belowthe bar member and over the support means.

16. Apparatus as claimed in claim 15, in which the bar member has arounded edge where it contacts the web.

17. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the uncurling means is arevolving brush the periphery of which moves over the face of the web inthe region of the selvcdges and has an outward and a forward componentof motion.

18. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the uncurling means is atravelling brush band which moves over the face of the web in region ofthe selvedge and has an outward and a forward component of motion.

19. Apparatus for feeding a web of travelling material accurately andwith smooth selvedges to a textile finishing machine such as a stentercomprising the combination in advance of the entry end of the machine oneach side thereof, of an automatic guiding device, a main uncurler unitpositioned immediately in advance of said guiding device to smooth outthe curl at the selvedge prior to entry of the selvedge to said device,a brush wheel located close to the point where the selvedge of the webleaves the guiding device and driven from the guiding member of theguiding device by gearing mounted therealongside, the positioning of thebrush and the direction of brush rotation being such that the bristlesbrush across the selvedge in an outwards direction over the surface ofthe web towards which the selvedge tends to re-curl.

20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, in which said gearing comprisestwo small shafts, one of which is driven by a bevel pinion from a bevelring mounted on the guiding member and drives the other through themedium of two spur wheels, said other shaft carrying the brush at itsend remote from the spur gears, whereby the second or brush-carryingshaft can be displaced from a position radial of the drum.

21. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19, in which said gearing comprises ashaft carrying the brush wheel and driven directly by a pinion from abevel ring mounted on the guiding member, said shaft including anadjustable universal joint to allow the brush to be canted to thenecessary position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,128,377 Richardson Aug. 30, 1938 2,321,010 Cohn June 8, 1943 2,467,281Walter et a1 Apr. 12, 1949 2,481,369 Turner Sept. 6, 1949 2,510,313Houth et a1 June 6, 1950 2,650,413 Pope et a1 Sept. 1, 1953 FOREIGNPATENTS 483,078 Germany Sept. 25, 1929

1. APPARATUS FOR MAINTAINING THE SELVEDGE OF A WEB OF TRAVELLING FABRICUNCURLED, ESPECIALLY PRIOR TO ENTRY TO A FINISHING MACHINE SUCH AS ASTENTER, COMPRISING IN ADVANCE OF THE ENTRY END OF THE MACHINE ON EACHSIDE THEREOF SUBSTANTIALLY RIGID SUPPORT MEANS PRESENTING A CURVEDSURFACE TOWARDS THE PATH OF MOVEMENT OF THE WEB AND ADAPTED TO ACT ONONE FACE OF THE WEV IN THE REGION OF EACH SELVEDGE TO CONSTRAIN THESELVEDGE TO FOLLOW AN ARCUATE PATH THEREOVER, AND TO RESIST TRANSVERSEOUTWARD DISPLACEMENT OF THE WEB, AND UNCURLING MEANS ADAPTED TO ACT ONTHE OTHER FACE OF THE WEB IN THE REGION OF EACH SELVEDGE SO AS TO TENDTO KEEP THE SELVEDGE OPEN AND UNCURLED.